My Nature Love Continues

Many years back,

I had got the opportunity,

to travel, to experience

this natural place.

My fellow travelers

were interested in wearing

fashionable dresses,

taking selfie pictures

eating in restaurants.

To me,

those were not important,

I was roaming in the woods,

with notebook and pen in hands,

trying to identify flora and fauna,

noticing every little thing.

That’s a ponderosa pine

with trunk embedded with

vibrant wolf lichen.

On the ground,

poking among the needles,

were red snow plants.

I would learn ponderosa,

is heavy for Spanish.

The lichen is fruticose,

snow plant is saprophytic.

By this mindfulness,

and nature appreciation,

I banished my own stress,

felt gratitude to

savor these wonders of evolution,

and came back enriched,

both hungry and fulfilled.

Now, decades later

I am older, a mother,

but my nature love continues,

even stronger,

and I encourage all,

to immerse in nature,

and feel better.

Note: That's Lassen National Park in California.